Eurovan overheating, any troubleshooting advice?

[armygreenvw]

I'm trying to diagnose my Eurovan's problem of overheating. My '93 Eurovan sat unused for one month. I opened the hood and found the coolant level to be slightly below the low level line, I drove it fifty miles on the highway before realizing the van was severely overheated, so much that after stopping the van and letting it sit for an hour and topping off the reservoir the temp guage still went to the highest point. I noticed that the engine fan which normally cools the van after diving did not turn on.
I checked the fan's fuse and it is good. Is there a specific sensor or relay which could be identified and replaced for this fan? Or, could the problem be hidden in the cooling system?
If so, could somone suggest an easy method of troubleshooting a Eurovan cooling system.
I can think of a few possible problems such as a bad water pump, clogged coolant line, or a bad thermostat. Any other ideas?

Thanks to any advice.

[dokarex]

Is it actually overheating? Use a infrared thermometer on your coolant hoses and see what the temp is. This happend to mine and I spent two weeks trying to do everything suggested here on the Samba, Finally I went to a local mech who bled everything and it still didn't work ( the gauge shot to max and the led flashed) then he used the thermometer and turns out the temp was fine the temp sender was shot.
Just an idea
D

[moosie982]

This is for my sons "new" euro van, 1993 5 cylinder, yada, yada, yada 5 spd manual trans, what to do if it is ACTUALLY overheating due to fans not turning on,, what to check , the fans are not working !!!! Ya see I dont have this problem with my old '83 Air Cooled Vanagon Peace,,,Moosie

Additionally, I am enough of a mechanic to check all the obvious reasons why it is overheating and the "normal" things check out fine, the fans dont work!

[tds3pete]

Have you checked the two 50 amp fuses between the driver's headlight and the firewall? This is a very common fault on the early EV's that keeps the fans from running.

As I recall, you just turn the key to the run position without starting the engine, select the A/C position for the heater, then see if both fans are running.

The fuses commonly get hairline cracks in them so they look okay but are not. In my case, both were cracked, one worked and one did not. They cost 80 cents each so buy a couple of spares. They are located in a little plastic box and the fuses are just flat metal strips about 3/16" x 1 1/2".
_________________
'58 Westy camper-come and gone
'73 Westy-bought new in Holland,now gone
'86 Syncro weekender-come and gone
'79 Westy...Oscar
'95 Eurovan Camper/5 spd...Marsha Mellow

[moosie982]

Thank you very much I will check them, Peace,,,Moosie

[moosie982]

Does any one know if there are ballast resistors involved in the fans wiring ? We be waiting on the haynes book for this unit, but it aint here yet. Peace,,,Moosie